I was under the impression that the second law of tthermodynamics implies that
the disorder of the universe as a whole increases over time, although
localised regions may briefly attain order, albeit transiently. So living
organisms are brief, localised regions of order which decay, quite literally
when they die. Actually there's something not right about this physicists
argument (as usual when physicists try and talk biology); surely order could
only be said to be increasing due to the increased complexity of living things
if the more complex organisms contained the original material of the earlier
ones and had added to it? Obviously we don't take atoms from the environment,
build them into ordered molecules and then keep the same atoms and pass them
on; we're continually breaking down the complex molecules in our bodies and
building them afresh from new starting material. So we have the illusion of
permanence and order, but energy is continually being spent to maintain it, in
perfect accordance with the laws of physics.
Anyway, physicists just don't like evolution because they think they're on a
direct telephone line to God through their equations.
Neil
nsaunders at molbiol.ox.ac.uk